


Radio.

by the-canary (siruru)



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety Attacks, Assistant, Bucky Barnes Has PTSD, Co-workers, Declarations Of Love, Denial of Feelings, Developing Relationship, Drinking, F/M, Feelings Realization, Friends to Lovers, Inspired by Music, Light Angst, Love Confessions, Miscommunication, Mutual Pining, Party, Reader-Insert, Requited Love, Slow Dancing, Unresolved Emotional Tension, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2020-02-15 16:35:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18673438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/siruru/pseuds/the-canary
Summary: Both of you thought it was a long shot, it just took a special day to make it finally click.





	Radio.

**Author's Note:**

> this is for @kentuckybarnes‘ writing challenge. just in time!
> 
> Prompt: No one told me there would be social interaction, or else I would not have come.

Between the new music videos to make, the upcoming press tour, and the autistic concerts and the never-ending legion of devotees that followed him everywhere, Bucky was up to his head with what he could handle and what he couldn’t. His anxiety was at an all-time high and all he wanted to do was such the door and never seen a goddamn guitar again, but he couldn’t.

Instead, he took out on the closest person to him in the room – you, helpful and always smiling you.

“Could you just shut up and leave me be,” Bucky remarks while grabbing a drink from the hotel bar and sitting down on the couch. He didn’t need to scream or mess the place up, like most of the bands that you had worked with in the past, to let you know that he wanted you out of the room.

You frown for a second, blue eyes turning to look away as he takes one long chug of his whiskey and you know how the rest of the night will go.

“Do you really–”

The bottle smashes against the wall beside you and without another word, you let Bucky commiserate in his fear alone.

* * *

It isn’t until the next morning after waking up closer to 10am with splitting headache and bottles around him, as Bucky makes a run to the bathroom to lose his dinner from the night before and whatever else that he notices one thing.

You aren’t there – and that’s when the fear sets in.

* * *

ALL FOLLOWING MESSAGES ARE ON READ:

_Pepper: I am sorry that your night ended on such a terrible note. He must be more stressed that usual._

_Nat: He’s a jerk! Come have a drink with us when you’re done exploring!_

_Sam: Happy Birthday Weekend! Treat yourself on us! We both know you earned._

You glance at the messages and smile before getting your backpack and walking out the door – to do whatever you had in mind for your birthday weekend.

* * *

 

“She asked for the weekend off,” Steve explains as Bucky paces back and forth in his room. He lets out a deep breath and runs a hand through his rat’s nest of a head, but Steve could already tell what was going on – Bucky was already blaming himself.

Bucky wasn’t the easiest people to handle when it came to the press circuit, it just made him even more irritable and filled with anxiety. For all his charming smiles and relaxed presences on the stage, Bucky was a mess anytime after or before that. An assistant could barely handle his silence and cold-hot treatment before quitting a week in – it had been a miracle that Pepper Potts had found you within Stark Management and that you understood Bucky and the rest of the band so well.

However, this was different – this was their first release since Bucky come back from his tours. This wasn’t just garage shows and shitty club lounges to sell CDs out the back of their van while they traveled up and down the East Coast. This was both coasts and 12 shows within a month with a press tour to get their name out their – it was everything they dreamed once back in college.

This was the big leagues and Steve can see that it’s getting to Bucky, but it’s something more than that as well. He just isn’t sure if Bucky has realized it just yet.

“But, what if–” Bucky remarks in question, turning to stare Steve with an annoyed look on his face. He let out a puff of air before moving back to the entrance of the hotel room, “Just to forget it.”

Steve lets out a sigh at the sound of the door closing, as someone comes out of the adjacent door. Sam shakes his head, wiping his hand with a washcloth and shaking his head.

“I’m guessing all anxiety made him forget it’s her birthday this weekend,” Sam states as Steve just shakes his head.

* * *

 

_~~Hi!~~ _

_~~I just wanted to say…~~ _

_~~I’m sorry…~~ _

Bucky isn’t sure what he is doing as he flops over on the couch once more, trying to think of what to write in the text message, though he knows it is better to handle this more in person or even over the phone. But, personal confrontation isn’t something that Bucky has been good with for quite some time – it was easier to mask and bury emotion deeper than necessary.

However, there was one way he knew how. Thus, he gets up and looks around to find some paper and a pen.

* * *

 

It’s two days before you really look at your home between a quick home visit and simply taking in everything that you hadn’t seen since you moved to New York. Yes, you had been there for quite a while –since Tony had picked you up after a bad interview at another agency– but with all the traveling you did with different bands and with the Starks, there was just something that you had never gotten to see and now was your chance.

However, there is slightly more worrisome part of you that can’t help but feel that you should be somewhere else, were needed somewhere else.

“How was Coney Island?” Nat’s voice breaks your concentration, as you turn to look at her with a smile.

Nat had decided to break down your apartment door the night before your birthday – the big one that you never thought back in college you would make it– for brunch, drinks, and a bit of socializing, while you were still at home.

“More for couples and than anything else,” you remark with a laugh before taking a bit out of your french toast, which tastes more bitter than usual at what you had just said – maybe another thing that you regretted as another year passed you by, but work – you loved your work above all else.

“One day,” Nat remarks as if she knows something that you don’t, but you can’t really trust the person that is already in a stable relationship – it was just empty reassurance on their part and that’s when you hear it:  

> _And do you have anyone special to thank in regard to this new CD?_
> 
> _Umm…yeah, there’s a gal but that’s all I’m willing to say._

Green eyes glance up to look at you and Natasha swears later on that she can tell the moment your heart broke at the sound of Bucky’s confess on the radio.

 

* * *

_~~The way ya look in the light~~ _

_~~Your smile shines like~~ _

It’s usually so much easier for Bucky to write lyrics, but at the simple thought of you, he freezes because there isn’t a way to describe how he feels out you – it’s so much more than the guilt and gratitude, so much more than he thought when he started this process last night. And now, he isn’t sure what he is supposed to do with all the information making his heart beat a bit faster and his brain turns to mush over the thought of never seeing you.

“You know we have to catch a plane back to New York, right?” Sam can’t help but ask with a chuckle as Bucky gives him a confused look, “You know for a certain birthday party.”

“Oh, Oh yeah,” there is an excitement in Bucky’s voice that Sam hasn’t in quite some time as he watches the man get up and start running around the room, looking for his suitcase and things that need to be packed.

He’s a lost cause without her, Sam thinks to himself as he sees the pieces of crumpled papers all over the coffee table and half-finished meal beside it.

“You know,” Sam starts off, remembering what he had heard some time ago, “If you’re having trouble, maybe just take one from the Elvis’ playbook. She likes those movies well enough.”

Sam hears more of a crashing noise from the back followed with cursing before he starts heading out of the hotel room – he isn’t sure what’s going to happen, but he’s sure that it will all work out in the end.

At least, that’s what Natasha keeps telling him.

* * *

 

 **“No one told me there would be social interaction, or else I would not have come,”** you tease as green eyes roll in response to your cheeky answer. 

“Just shut up and enjoy your birthday party,” she smiles as you take the elevator to the highest floor of her apartment building, “I’m sure you’ll find it very enjoyable.” 

You’re a little confused over the last part of her statement, but you aren’t surprised when Nat drags you out of your apartment the Sunday of your actual birthday, she had been throwing you parties for as long as you had known her. 

What surprised you is that nearly everyone you knew what in that little rooftop patio with your favorite restaurant from two blocks down catering. However, there is one thing that catches your attention – the stage near the back.

You don’t think about it for now because you know that Bucky and the rest of the band are supposed to be on the other side of the country, getting ready for their first concert in some small Hollywood theater. You were sure that Bucky didn’t need you there either, he had made sure of pointing that out the last time you had seen him.

You’re proven wrong two hours into the party, as Nat pushes you to the front of the gathering crowd after you had made some welcoming rounds (much to your displeasure) and thanks – that’s when you see it.

Bucky dressed in a white short-sleeve and his handy black motorcycle jacket. His hair is pulled back in a low ponytail and his hand on a guitar you’ve never seen before. You look up for just a second and see that’s he’s looking straight at you – nothing in-between as he gives you an easy smile.

And this is the Bucky that you know – the one that can talk and charm a crowd like none else can, such a difference between you had been used to seeing recently. He nods and you can’t help but wonder why Steve and Sam aren’t backing him up.

“This is for the birthday gal,” he starts off with a strum of his guitar, “As a confession, a gift, and an apology…if she accepts them.”  

You’re confused for just a second and then Bucky strums that familiar note that you have heard a dozen times before, as he starts singing [Can’t Help Falling in ](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DvGJTaP6anOU&t=MTYwNTg0MzMzM2I5NzkwNGQ1NjY3NTZiZjgyY2QzNzQ1MjRjZTU0NyxHOXNWOGpWdA%3D%3D&b=t%3ARX4SnYt_TIYMwvxNWhVbfA&p=https%3A%2F%2Fthe-canary.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F184569726331%2Fradio-bb&m=1)Love and you swear you lose the function to breathe throughout the whole damn thing.

* * *

It’s a little later after encores and teasing that Bucky finally has you in his arms after three lovesick days apart, in one of the darker corners of the rooftop, as you keep humming the song he had played for you. His arms around your waist as he rocked you back and forth slightly to the rhythm you had set. Blue eyes on your face as he rubs his thumb over your cheek to get you to finally look at him.

  
“I know it’s not a good excuse,” Bucky starts off a bit nervously with a bite of his bottom lip, “But I’m sorry for how I acted with the stress and jitters of all this." 

  
"I know, Bucky,” he lets out a little sigh at the sound of his name on your lips, “Apology accepted." 

  
He lets out a relieved chuckle as he moves you a bit more, before twirling you to the imaginary music in the air – the sound of love in the air. 

  
"I was thinkin’ that maybe once all this tour business is done with,” Bucky keeps going with a shy smile, “I could take you out for a date." 

“I–” you pause for just a second to tease him, as blue eyes watch you like a hawk, “I would love to go on a date with you." 

  
"I promise you won’t’ regret it,” Bucky chuckles as he leans in a bit more. 

  
And if a certain redhead gets a picture of the two of you kissing – well then, you could live with that.


End file.
